Dem Strategists have identified their next target in the ongoing Obama/Clinton Politics of Personal Destruction campaign. I guess that they have to have something to talk about in the 8:45 call, eh? I guess this was forwarded on to the JournoList too, so we can see more petty and ultimately unsuccessful (as with Limbaugh) drive-by attacks from the mass media journalists as well as the talking heads.

I really understand why Hillary Clinton talked about a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy for so long now. She was unable to fathom that the Very Real Vast Left Wing Consiracy was getting its ass kicked by an unorganized confederation for so long. (And will again soon.)

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

That said, the legalities Orszag alluded to all seem to be aimed at allowing the tax panel to meet in private. The reason to have the task force appointed by the advisory board and not Obama is that, if Obama names them and gives them an assignment, they are a freestanding panel subject to the rules of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, including advance public notice of meetings and public meetings in most cases. Having them give their report to the full 16-member advisory board also insulates the group. By not reporting directly to Obama, the tax reform task force will be able to work behind closed doors.

Conduct Regulatory Agency Business in Public: Obama will require his appointees who lead the executive branch departments and rulemaking agencies to conduct the significant business of the agency in public, so that any citizen can watch these debates in person or on the Internet.

His inability to appoint anyone into positions actually makes sense now. If they aren’t “appointees” then they don’t have to follow his ethics rules. Not that it matters anyways, he hasn’t followed any of these sections either:

Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.

Shine Light on Earmarks and Pork Barrel Spending: Obama’s Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act will shed light on all earmarks by disclosing the name of the legislator who asked for each earmark, along with a written justification, 72 hours before they can be approved by the full Senate.

Reform the Political Appointee Process: FEMA Director Michael Brown was not qualified to head the agency, and the result was a disaster for the people of the Gulf Coast. But in an Obama administration, every official will have to rise to the standard of proven excellence in the agency’s mission.

Goolsbee argued on FTN that the president is “going to look at what comes out of the House, what comes out of the Senate, see what ideas we have.” On “Washington Unplugged,” he agreed with the notion that the tax could have a “chilling effect.”

Meanwhile, Jared Bernstein, Vice President Biden’s economic adviser, said the AIG tax bill “may be a dangerous way to go.” And White House economic adviser Christina Romer pressed that there is a difference between “bad” agents like AIG and good ones like the potential private investors, who are “really doing us a favor.”

This could be the first decision that I actually want to support to come out of the White House if they oppose punitive taxes on the AIG bonuses. ‘Chilling effect’ is an understatement.

I’ve been on the record all of the blogosphere in comments saying that the White House is openly hostile to business. This move — especially a veto — would go a long, long way to disproving me in that statement. It would certainly disprove that everything they have done is hostile to business (which sounds like the sort of statement that I would make, and I think is true to this point.)

The bill is now going before the Senate, where there is speculation the tax could be reduced to 30 percent. President Obama likely doesn’t want the public relations nightmare of having to decide whether or not to sign the House version of the bill, which is why you can bet White House representatives are applying pressure on the Senate to come up with a version that the administration feels it can accept.

“Nightmare”? Are you kidding? It’s a dream. As bad as Congress is viewed right now, this could be the best thing to prop up BHO’s sliding numbers. Right now, Dodd, Pelosi and Frank are running the Democratic Party, not Obama. If he wants to show that he is in charge, he hasn’t had a better opportunity. Bush never had the spine to stand up to a Republican Congress. I honestly don’t think that Obama has the spine to stand up a Democrat Congress either, but I would be delighted to be proven wrong. BHO worshippers refuse to see that he can do any wrong, populist Republicans won’t be happy with anything, and the people actually pushing the economy forward would all breathe a sigh of relief.